1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to carpet tiles and more particularly to the manufacture thereof.
2. Description of Related Art
It has previously been proposed, for example in UK Specification No. 1 336 707, to manufacture carpet tiles by doctoring a layer of thermoplastics material to a predetermined thickness on a heat-resistant carrier sheet, laying carpeting in the orientation of use, that is to say with the tufts projecting upwardly, onto the doctored layer, applying heat through the carrier sheet to cure the layer of thermoplastics material and bond it to the carpeting, stripping off the carrier sheet and cutting the carpeting into tiles.
It has also been proposed to manufacture carpet tiles with the strip to be cut up into the tiles being formed in an orientation which is inverted having regard to its orientation of use. Previous proposals involved transporting tufted carpet in an inverted orientation on a conveyor, spreading a base layer of PVC on the carpet, partially curing the base layer, rolling a reinforcing mesh into the partially cured base layer, applying a finish layer of PVC over the base layer incorporating the reinforcing mesh, doctoring the finish layer, curing the base layer and the finish layer and embossing the combined layer. The strip of carpeting was subsequently cut into tiles.